Over one million Australians with disability are working (Media Release)

MEDIA RELEASE

28 March 2012

Embargo: 11.30 am (Canberra Time)

37/2012

Over one million Australians with disability are working

Disability and work
Over one million working-age people with disability were working in 2009, according to the latest publication released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

People with disability who were working were more likely to work part-time, work from home and/or run their own business than employed people without disability.

Around half (54%) of working-age people with disability participated in the labour force in 2009, compared with 83% of working-age people without disability. The type and severity of disability influenced people's employment. People with sensory or speech disability had the bestworkoutcomes, with a 54% participation rate and a 7.0% unemployment rate. Half (53%) of those with moderate or mild disability participated in the labour force while those with profound or severe disability had a participation rate of nearly a third (31%).

Please listen to our Podcast for more information on the 'Disability and work' article.

Life on 'Struggle Street'
In 2009-10, one in five (20% or 1.7 million) households were classified as having low economic resources, that is, both relatively low income and relatively low wealth. Low economic resource households were particularly vulnerable to financial stress. Around a quarter (24%) of low economic resource households reported spending more money than they received most weeks, twice the rate of other households (12%).

The average income of people in low economic resource households in 2009-10 was less than half the average income for people in other households. The wealth of low economic resource households was one tenth that of other households.

Life after homelessness
In 2010, adults who were no longer homeless but had experienced homelessness during the previous 10 years experienced greater disadvantage than those with no history of homelessness.

Disability or long-term health conditions were more prevalent in people who had been homeless in the last 10 years (64%) than those who had never been homeless (37%). They were twice as likely to report a physical disability and four times as likely to have a psychological disability.

Love Me Do
Over the twenty years from 1990 to 2010, partnering and family patterns in Australia have changed. Australians are marrying older, and the seven year itch has stretched out to an average of 8.8 years to separation and 12.3 years to divorce. One in ten adults are in de facto relationships, and two thirds are choosing civil ceremonies if they do decide to marry.

Separation and divorce also impacts on children. In 2009–10, one in five children in Australia had a parent living elsewhere.